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Russia uses Iranian airbase for first time in Syria campaign Russia uses Iranian airbase for first time in Syria campaign
(about 1 hour later)
Russian warplanes have taken off from a base in Iran to target Islamic State fighters and other militants in Syria, Russia’s defence ministry has said, marking a major development in the country’s civil war, now in its sixth year. Russian jets have carried out airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria from an airbase in Iran for the first time – a major development in the collaboration between the two crucial allies of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Up to now Russia has not used the territory of another country in the Middle East for its operations inside Syria, where it has been carrying out an aerial campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s government for nearly a year. The announcement suggests cooperation on the highest levels between Moscow and Tehran, both key allies of the embattled president. Russian state media cited the country’s defence ministry on Tuesday as saying that an unspecified number of long-range bombers, including Su-34 and Tu-22M3 warplanes, have taken off from near Hamadan, a city in the west of Iran, to target Isis near Aleppo.
It comes a day after Russia’s defence minister said Moscow and Washington are edging closer to an agreement on Syria that would help defuse the situation in the besieged northern city of Aleppo. Hosting Russian jets on Iranian territory is a departure for Tehran from its hitherto history of covert operations in regional conflicts. It is believed to be the first time Russian warplanes have been deployed in Iran in at least half a century.
Sergei Shoigu said the agreement would “allow us to find common ground and start fighting together for bringing peace to that territory”, adding that Russian representatives are “in a very active stage of talks with our American colleagues”. Al-Masdar, a news website which covers the conflicts in the Arab world, published a string of photos of Russian warplanes in the Hamadan airbase, saying it would shorten the flight time to Syrian targets by 60%.
A US official said, however, that discussions with the Russians are still ongoing and no agreement is close. “The distance of these flights [from the Russian airbase] equal roughly 2,150km to reach a target near Palmyra. In comparison, the Hamadan airbase in Iran is roughly 900km from Palmyra,” al-Masdar said. It said the Khmeimim airbase in Latakia, Syria, was not suitable for the deployment of large bombers such as the TU-22M3.
Russia and the United States have been discussing greater coordination for striking extremists in Syria, but they have been unable to reach agreement on which militant groups could be targeted. The chief of Iran’s supreme national security council, Ali Shamkhani, confirmed the Russian reports. “Tehran and Moscow have strategic cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria and we have the capacity and the capabilities for this collaboration,” he said on Tuesday, according to the state-run Irna news agency.
Russia has criticised what it describes as US reluctance to persuade the Syrian opposition groups it supports to withdraw from areas controlled by al-Nusra Front in Syria. Shamkhani condemned Saudi involvement in Syria and also in Yemen, where the Saudi-led coalition is countering the advances of the Houthi rebels. “It is not acceptable for the Muslim world to see Saudi Arabia investing towards the empowerment of terrorist and Takfiri groups [Iranian terminology for extremist jihadis sympathetic to Isis] instead of fighting the occupation by the Zionist regime [Israel].”
The Russian statement on Tuesday said Su-34 and Tu-22M3 bombers took off from Iran’s Hamadan airbase to target Islamic State and al-Nusra Front militants in Aleppo, as well as in Deir el-Zour and Idlib, destroying five major ammunition depots, training camps and three command posts. Iran has invested heavily in protecting Syria’s Assad, dispatching some of its most experienced Revolutionary Guards commanders to the country to plan and oversee operations and recruiting Afghan refugees to go and fight against Syrian rebel forces. A rising number of funerals held in Iran for those killed in Syria, often referred to as “defenders of holy sites”, is testament to that.
Al-Nusra Front recently announced it was changing its name to Fatah al-Sham and severing ties with al-Qaida in an apparent attempt to evade Russian and US-led airstrikes. Russia and the US have dismissed the name change as window-dressing. The state-run Russia Today said the Tu-22M3 bombers deployed in Hamadan have launched airstrikes in Syria. “The long-range bombers with full bomb payload took off from Hamadan airfield to attack Islamic State and al-Nusra Front facilities in Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Idlib provinces,” it said.
The Russian defence ministry released a video showing a Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bomber dropping bombs in strikes described as “terrorist objects in Syria”. Although Iran has been involved in some of the Middle East’s most bruising conflicts in recent years, it has refrained from overt collaborations to avoid being openly accused of militarily interfering in the region. Tehran has previously allowed foreign jets to use its airspace, but never before in recent decades its airbases.
Russia and Iran have been expanding their ties in the past months after most of the sanctions against Iran were lifted following the nuclear deal with world powers that put restricted Iran’s nuclear program from weapons-grade capability. Tuesday’s news shows that Iranian leaders are pursuing a new approach. This may have been prompted by Saudi Arabia, Tehran’s regional rival, taking an overt and active role, particularly in Yemen.
Iran has maintained that its involvement in Syria and Iraq are based on an invitation from their central governments and are aimed at fighting Isis fighters, although critics say Syria is important for Iran because it gives Tehran physical access to Lebanon and Hezbollah, which is strategically important for Iranian leaders because of the group’s geographical position in respect to Israel.
In Iraq, Iran and the west appear to be fighting a common enemy – Isis – with the US secretary of state, John Kerry, having described the Iranian role there as “helpful”; but the two are in opposing fronts in Syria where Tehran has allied with Assad.
Iran also says that it is fighting Isis to prevent its advance towards its own borders. On Tuesday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news said that three “Takfiri terrorists” have been killed in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah.
“After clashing with the three Takfiri terrorists, the security forces managed to kill all of them,” Tasnim reported.